Jessica Helgerson emailed us the other day to give us a peak into some of her recent work. I was excited because it had been quite some time since I had blogged her work. Let me say that I love colour in my life, but I can’t get over how she can use virtually no colour but white/creams and chocolate brown/black and make it look SOOOOOOO good. Absolutely gorgeous spaces, that I imagine her clients will enjoy for a quite some time, as her design aesthetic is elegantly hip and timeless. So let’s get on with the first project – thanks to Jessica for sending along some descriptions (photos by Lincoln Barbour).

This project is a complete remodel of a turn-of-the-century Southeast Portland four-square. We gutted a small and disfunctional kitchen, back pantry and mud room to create a large and airy kitchen; added box beams to the dining room, separated the entry from the living room with a deep-cased opening which created two ledges for seating or plants, added a mantle, built-in shelves, and two windows at the fireplace; as well as adding a second window, a wood ceiling and wainscoting to the upstairs bathroom. Woodwork throughout much of the house was stained a dark ebony as were the floors on the first floor.

We wanted to create a space that was both glamorous for the Portland hipster couple who live in the house as well as appropriate for the house itself and its period. The new woodwork is designed to look original but the dark stain adds an element of elegance and surprise. With the furnishings we created an eclectic blend of modern and ethnic pieces that are unified by their color and scale. Many of the pieces were custom made locally: the sofa that fits into the bay window; the living room chairs which are cozily upholstered in sheepskin; the dining room benches and table top; and the blown glass sculptures, by Portland-based glass artist ANDY PAIKO.

Anyone else having heart palpitations over that kitchen and ALL the incredible light fixtures? (!!!) Stay tuned tomorrow for another one of Jessica’s projects.

I’d like to wish all my fellow Canadians a Happy Canada Day. On this day I hope you’re all hanging out at a cottage consuming exorbitant amounts of beer and having a fun day off. It’s supposed to thunderstorm here in the nation’s capital which will put a wee bit of a damper (ha) on festivities down at Parliament Hill. Anyhoo, in keeping with the theme of the day, I thought I’d post some photos of red and white spaces. Enjoy – and don’t drink and drive kids.

House Beautiful

design*sponge

elledeco

Sunset

New York Magazine

Eugeni Pons

Tsao & McKown Architects

Beach Studios

Marie Claire Maison

Matthew Gleason

New York Social Diary

Ken Gutmaker

New York Magazine

Blount Design

Tracey Garet

House Beautiful

Lucas Allen	Lucas Allen
Lynn Morgan	Dexter Hodges
Oberto Gili	Nicolas Mathéus
Apartment Therapy	Jason Loucas
Paul Costello	Brian Andriola

Stan of the blog Home Rejuvenation and the interior design firm KNQ Associates emailed the other day to share with us one of their latest projects. I am really digging this one. They were asked to create a cool, relaxing space which would showcase the owner’s collection of Asian art objects as well as offer them respite from a busy lifestyle. “Here, we’ve created a home where filtered, ambient light creates an almost ethereal feel. This is further enhanced through a strategic use of soft colors, high gloss finishes and tinted glass. The result is truly minimalist but not cold, with the injection of textured surfaces and bright tones around the house.” It’s modern, timeless and each touch they’ve added is functional and beautiful.

So let’s start with the entrance. Here is a before photo.

“Upon entry into the house, a deep-colored enveloping ceiling structure joining up with a glass partition becomes apparent. This structure connects to a lengthy, full height storage unit which also showcases the owners’ prized possession of horse figurines at the dining area.”

I am totally in love with that shoe cabinet. What a fantastic use of the space!

Now for the living and dining spaces. Here they are before:

“On the advice of a Feng Shui master, the sofa and dining set were to be positioned apart at both ends of the living space. In response, a TV swivel system was created to demarcate the two areas and offers entertainment from every corner of the apartment, including the kitchen. Most of the furniture were brought over from the owners’ previous home on our advice.”

That swiveling TV set up is GENIUS!!! It works so well in this space. WOW! And that pop of orange in the dining room is fabulous.

They even worked some magic on the corridor to
the bedrooms. Here it is before and after:

“Two bedrooms were combined to create a larger master bedroom. A sliding wardrobe system was recreated to provided much needed storage space while concealing the existing toilet entry at one section – another Feng Shui requirement.”

“The original entry to a 3rd bedroom was demolished to create an open study area. A raised wooden ‘runway’ erected along the bedroom corridor leads into this area.”

Great space – especially the little reading/napping niche behind the desk. Impressive work as always Stan and Kus!!

I’ve been working on redoing my bedroom for a while now, and it’s finally complete. Well, as complete as any room in my home can be, as I am often rearranging. But I’m pretty happy with the bedroom as it is now. Back in April I blogged about starting the bedroom and some of my ideas (and the demo of the huge closet that was in the room). Then a couple weeks later I managed to get the room painted, and blogged about it here. Slowly but surely the rest came together and I think I can call it done. I took some photos on Saturday, and boy was this room tough to photograph. The room is small (12’x11′ I think) and the pale pink walls looked white in most of the photos so I had to do some photoshopping to try and get some of them looking accurate. (And I’m not good at PS). So here it is….

P.S. I uploaded a bunch of photos on Flickr (here is my photostream and here is my bedroom set) if you want to see more details of the room.